Former German footballer Metzelder faces probe in child porn case

Berlin: Former Real Madrid and German national player Christoph Metzelder faces probe following suspicion raised about his involvement in the distribution of child porn content, public prosecutor's office in Hamburg has said.

The defendant, a member of the 2002 World Cup's runners-up team, was accused of sending pictures with child pornographic content to a recipient in Hamburg via WhatsApp, Xinhua news agency quoted German newspaper Bild as reporting.

Two searches were carried out at Metzelder's Duesseldorf living quarters and data storage media were seized as evidence on Tuesday on the orders of the Hamburg district court.

Metzelder had won the German national title with Borussia Dortmund and the Spanish league title with Real Madrid and had announced his retirement in 2013.